Highest Rated Tools, Regulations, and Statutes

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More and more communities are facing the challenges of childhood
obesity, asthma, type two diabetes, and other health issues resulting from an
unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle. Past
efforts to address these issues focused solely on changing individual behaviors
and have not succeeded in...

GIS is a critical tool for planners; however, access to detailed, up-to-date data layers can be difficult to find. GIS can be used to understand community landscapes in many different planning functions and in a variety of
applications. In order to create informative maps and conduct...

Broadband or high-speed Internet
access allows users to access the Internet and Internet-related services at
significantly higher speeds than those available through “dial-up” Internet
access services. Broadband has proven to be a foundation for economic growth,
job creation, global competitiveness...

An agricultural conservation easement is a voluntary,
legally recorded deed restriction that is placed on a specific property used
for agricultural production. The goal of an agricultural conservation easement
is to maintain agricultural land in active production by removing the
development...

SB 244 (Wolk, 2011) requires
cities and counties to address the infrastructure needs of unincorporated
disadvantaged communities in city and county general plans and LAFCo Municipal
Service Reviews (MSRs) and annexation decisions. SB 244 defines an unincorporated disadvantaged
community as a...

Since passage of AB 32, The Global Warming Solutions Act (2006),
communities throughout California have been identified as a key partner in
efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many local governments have begun
to address community and municipal greenhouse gas emissions by updating their...

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has
revolutionized the world of mapping. GIS allows us to link endless amounts of
information to a specific geographic location and helps
us answer questions and solve problems by looking at data in a way that is
quickly understood and easily shared. GIS...

Agricultural
mitigation policies have successfully been adopted throughout California. They generally
require protecting farmland in an amount equal to the agricultural land converted
to other uses – either through the purchase of permanent conservation easements
or the payment of an in-lieu fee....

“Form-based
codes focus on the desired structure and appearance of the built environment,
rather than on restricted uses (the focus for more conventional planning
tools). Form-based codes typically address the exterior form, massing, and site
design of buildings and their relationship to the site...

The California Community Redevelopment Act was
enacted in 1945 to give local governments the tools necessary to address
problems such as blight, degraded buildings, and a lack of housing. While the
Act is now known as Community Redevelopment Law (CRL), the goals of
redevelopment remain the same: to...

Most of the current activity
around “Complete Streets” is to retrofit existing roadways into facilities that
are designed to be equally safe for drivers, bicyclists, transit vehicles and
users, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities. In new development, this type of facility
should be...

Economic
development strategies are concerted approaches on the part of a city or county
to influence the direction of private sector investment toward opportunities
that can lead to sustained economic growth within or supportive of that
jurisdiction.

A Market
Feasibility Analysis determines
the likelihood that a proposed land use or development will fulfill the
objectives of a particular investor or community. For example, a feasibility
study for a proposed housing subdivision should:

When land is developed new costs
are incurred by the municipal government in order to provide additional
services and infrastructure to that development. Such services include the
expansion of fire protection, libraries, schools, policing, and emergency
services, just to name a few. A variety of...

Walkable blocks is a street
configuration that provides short high connectivity blocks to both increase
pedestrian activity, reduce traffic speed through the neighborhood and reduce
overall vehicle miles traveled.
Frequently, walkable blocks also have shallow building setbacks and...

A joint initiative of San Joaquin Valley Councils of Governments representing each of the region's eight counties, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, the Great Valley Center, and the Fresno State Community and Regional Planning Center